A Wellness Collective at Naperville North High School.
Huskie Hygge (pronounced “hue-guh”) is a wellness collective that incorporates principles from positive psychology and the behavioral sciences. Hygge is consistently found throughout Danish culture as a way of life to promote behavioral health, happiness, and overall life satisfaction.
Currently, there is an urgent need to address the social-emotional skills and behavioral health of young people in a more holistic way. Schools that focus on building social and emotional skills have better results in the short and long-term than schools that are simply focused on raising test scores. Research shows that students who receive social-emotional and behavioral health support have higher grades, fewer absences, fewer arrests and disciplinary issues, and graduate and attend college at higher rates.
Huskie Hygge is the messaging arm of the Student Services Department at NNHS; it serves students from diverse backgrounds that benefit from curated content through: applying an infusion of socio-emotional development, understanding research-based strategies for brain-based learning, and integrating various approaches, techniques, and interventions to catalyze personal growth. We pursue a student success profile in our reflections through embedding the five core concepts of: positive self-identity, activating motivation and habits, developing the inner coach, embracing emotion regulation, and pursuing healthy community.
We have been writing to address current adolescent trends and circumstances related to Gen Z alongside infusing research and strategies from the SEL (socio-emotional learning) competencies of CASEL. Huskie Hygge was birthed from the initial outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic in Spring, 2020 to advance the science and practice of SEL in a global crisis. We continue to write regularly while discovering, gathering, and presenting on relevant themes and topics impacting Gen Z as "perspectives to promote honest and reflective dialogue."